TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

I love teaching. While I enjoy research and writing, it is connecting with Berkeley’s diverse students and sharing with them my passion for Asia that I find the most rewarding. One of my primary objectives is to open the door to each student's exploration of cultural and political identity. My teaching philosophy is firmly rooted in a commitment to three distinct yet inter-related goals: (1) Creating an open and interactive learning environment, (2) Cultivating critical thinking and writing skills, and (3) Setting high expectations for my students. I strive to achieve all three of these goals in each course that I teach.

Setting high expectations.I find that students achieve more when I set high standards and expectations for everyone involved, including myself. In my view, setting high expectations does not mean that every one of my students must receive an “A” in the course to be considered successful. After all, students come to college with a wide range of skills and varying knowledge of historical and current events. Rather, my expectations are based on each student’s demonstrated commitment to improvement. As teachers, I believe we have a responsibility to ensure that the progress of each and every student is encouraged, valued, and appreciated. First, to get students to perform at their best, I put forth my best effort to clearly communicate my course policies at the beginning of the term. I explain what plagiarism is and what the penalties will be for academic violations. My syllabi are very detailed and I do not deviate from the schedule and deadlines laid out in them. Second, I provide clear instructors and expectations for each assignment and provide grading rubrics to my GSIs and readers. I set aside time to grade a few assignments with GSIs and readers to ensure that we are on the same page with respect to grading. Third, I allocate plenty of time to carefully grade student assignments and provide substantive feedback.

Creating a nurturing learning environment.Many students – especially freshman, students of color, and international students – find Berkeley intimidating. As a woman and a person of color, I can empathize with that feeling of vulnerability and do my best to create a supportive, respectful and open intellectual atmosphere in which all of students regardless of background feel that they are integral members of a collaborative learning environment. I do this in a number of ways. First and foremost, I try to learn everyone’s names. Second, I create opportunities for all students to participate in the classroom. I do this by using interactive software to ask provocative questions and create opportunities for students to interact with one another during lecture. Third, when possible, I arrange the desks so that students face each other rather than the front of the room, which greatly facilitates discussion. For my smaller classes, I always sign up to use the new active learning classrooms that provide whiteboards and computer monitors for collaborative group work. Finally, I like to include a group project as one of my assessments, which gets the students to work together and learn th power of teamwork and collaboration.

Cultivating critical thinking and writing skills. In order to get students to engage with the course material, I encourage them to find linkages between what can seem like abstract theories and obscure historical events to current events and the social issues they care most about. First, I update my course every year to keep the materials fresh and relevant. Second, I strive to devise thought provoking discussion and exam questions which compel them to not only synthesize course materials but personally reflect upon the course content. Third, I find that frequent but short reflective writing assignments are an effective way to keep students engaged with the material and push them to practice articulating complex thoughts and honing their writing skills. Finally, I am constantly looking for new digital tools that can keep my students engaged. This coming year, I will also be working with the Berkeley Institute of Data Science to design a data science module for my new Global Studies course.

Making learning exciting and collaborative. When I exhibit excitement about the material and present that material across different mediums, I find that my students are more engaged. An impassioned teacher can make policymaking processes fascinating and relevant to biology students. Sustaining student attention is especially important in large lecture environments. In these instances, I find it crucial to consistently engage the students with questions to understand what aspects of the material they find intriguing or puzzling. In discussion sections, I empower students to explore the topics most interesting to them and tofind creative ways to share their research with one another. When possible, I leverage multimedia technologies - such as Canvas LMS, YouTube, iClickers, TopHat, Wordpress and online forums - to keep the students interested in the course.